CHAPTER SIX: MY IMMORTAL

The festivities wore on straight into the night. Bill and Fleur happily gazing into each others' eyes, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley proudly staring on. Fred and George running around, pranks and mischief in mind, while Harry and Ginny, Ron and Hermione danced on beneath the night's embrace.

When I was young I knew everything
And she a punk who rarely ever took advice

At first, no one seemed to notice any difference to the wedding. Finally, Harry drew his head up from smiling at Ginny and turned his head, his ears searching for the seemingly distant sounds of popping. Beside them, Ron and Hermione also ceased dancing and turned their heads, a feeling of intense foreboding wrapping serpent-like around the trio.

Then like the sun ripping through the sky's darkness, the tree Hermione had been leaning on earlier that evening shone vividly amid the bright backdrop moments before being engulfed in flames.

All at once pandemonium broke. Witches and wizards, seemingly forgetting where they were, running every which way as more bursts of flame erupted all around them. The small group of Hogwart's students stood with their backs to each other, wands drawn, their open-mouthed expressions of surprise quickly replaced by looks of fierce determination. Their eyes trained on the dark shadows emerging from the smoky flames, hooded figures appeared, walking steadily all about the once lovely garden wedding.

Now I'm guilt stricken, sobbing with my head on the floor
Stopped a baby's breath and a shoe-full of rice, no

Ginny's wand erupted first. With a strong cry, an incantation ripped from her throat and wand-fire sizzled and scorched its way to a hooded figure bearing down on them. Harry only had time to cast Ginny a surprised look, mingled with pride before the rest of the group's wands became a flurry of movement. Now joined by Fred, George and several other members of the Order, the group circled, still always with their backs to each other to cover all angles.

Harry swung his arm, aiming and cursing his way through a thick throng of Death Eaters, his words flying so fast he half-felt like they were barely even being uttered. Beside him, Ginny shook herself free of someone who had fallen from a curse and grabbed onto her dress. With a violent slash of her arm, a fierce fire of light arced its way across three of the Death Eaters Harry was battling and mid-hex, they fell like stones to the ground.

Can't be held responsible
She was touching her face
I won't be held responsible
She fell in love in the first place

Still the fire burned around them, as much as the Death Eaters were cursing and hexing their way through the now aware crowd of wedding-goers, they were also casting jets of fire to everything else. The place was now a sea of flames, dancing and whipping in the winds.

Leaping over a pile of fallen Death Eaters, Harry grabbed Ginny's hand and followed Ron and Hermione as they weaved their way through flying wand-fire. They looked up and for a moment, it felt as if everything had frozen except for the sight before them. Smoke wafting from the chimney of the Burrow, as if nothing out of the ordinary were taking place, there was a moment before a loud burst of sound echoed in their ears and the glass from windows erupted outwards as the Burrow surrendered to the fire.

Ginny stared aghast as her life's most treasured possessions and her home evaporated before her eyes. She felt Harry wrap himself around her, shielding her eyes further from the sight, while Ron whirled in rage, his eyes searching frantically for someone to curse. Around them, wizards, witches and Death Eaters alike lay in the rubble that the Burrow had become. There was nothing left but the fires that blazed on and the smoke consuming them, burning their eyes and filling their throats.

For the life of me I cannot remember
What made us think that we were wise
And we'd never compromise
For the life of me I cannot believe
We'd ever die for these sins
We were merely freshmen

As the smoke began to lift up towards the cloudless heavens, another flurry of movement ensued. The Death Eaters were being tied one by one by incantations and spells, while the rest of the wedding guests stumbled about, looking for those they loved fearing that eventually, they would have to look down at those who had fallen. The group found Mr. Weasley among the guests, forlornly standing before the very spot where his home used to stand, water bursting from the wand he held before him. A few yards away, Mrs. Weasley was numbly pointy her wand at lumps and forms on the ground, whispering 'ennervate' her eyes growing sadder and sadder as only few forms were able to rise.

Many popping sounds began to echo in the vast nothingness that the Burrow had become and Harry looked around as ministry workers apparated. Aurors and healers all ran about with horrified expressions on their faces; seemingly not knowing where to start.

Finally, as the last flame sputtered and died after valiantly battling against Remus Lupin's wand-water, and the last of the remaining wedding guests had departed on broomsticks or apparated away, Harry, Ginny, Ron and Hermione stood facing Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. Fred and George, their faces sweaty and covered in blood and soot stood behind their parents. Bill and Charlie, their suits ripped and Fleur clinging tightly to Bill joined the circle, their faces stony, though they remained silent. Mad-Eye Moody, Nymphandora and Kingsley Shacklbolt apparated a few yards away accompanied by a shaken Professor McGonagall and towering Hagrid. They had gone with other ministry workers to ensure the capture and imprisonment of the surviving Death Eaters.

As they all stared at one another, it was clear that everyone was at quite a loss for words. They all felt that each and every one of them understood the depth of the anger they all felt, and the despair and the resolution. They would never be happy until Voldemort was dead.

Bringing himself to stir, he approached Professor McGonagall and conferred quietly with her. Receiving a grave but brisk nod, he turned to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. His heart fell at the sight of their faces. They had so openly welcomed him into their home. Though they did not have much, they had given him everything that he could have needed that the Dursley's had failed miserably to give. They gave him a place to belong as well as love and concern. He wished that there were something he could do for them, and he knew that there was. Because now, through the lessons, however painful they were, he was learning. Love will always run deeper than pain, and through his pain, he would give out of love. He held out his hands and took each of their hands in his. Coming together, though no words were spoken, the rest of the Weasley family, Fleur as their newest addition and Hermione, clinging tightly to Ron's hand, they all joined hands and, concentrating as Hard as he could, Harry took them away from their loss.

In moments, they once again re-appeared, now in the centre of a Muggle square. The lights from the lightposts already out as McGonagall stood before them, Put-Outer in hand. Harry nodded his assent to Professor McGonagall and, after murmuring a few chosen incantations, she pointed her wand at a space between two buildings and from the empty space, a house began to squeeze it's way in between until it stood before them proudly, as though it had always been there.

Harry had given the Weasley's Number 12 Grimmauld Place.